“Help People and Businesses communicate better and fully express themselves”– this is the mission of LiveChat Software, announced upon the publication of its Annual Report. The vision of the Group is “Customer communication without barriers”.
In the 2019/2020 financial year (ending 31 March), the LiveChat Software Group recorded an increase of revenues by 19.7% to a level of PLN 130.9 million, with consolidated profit rising by 33% to reach PLN 76.1 million. The most important occurrences in recent months included reaching 1000+ paying clients of the ChatBot solution. At the beginning of June, the Company informed that the number of clients of its flagship solution, LiveChat, had exceeded 30 thousand.
“When we were debuted on the stock exchange, we said that we would have to define new objectives once we reached 30 thousand clients. Now, we are nothing like the company we were back then. We have several products that generate profit and, most importantly, over 170 people on board, as compared to approximately thirty at the time of our initial public offering. What has not changed is the fact that we are still driven by high ambitions, and we plan to change the way the customers communicate with businesses” – said Mariusz Ciepły, president of the board.
Together with the publication of its annual report, LiveChat presented its “Constitution”, which – in addition to defining the Mission and Vision – also identifies the key values of the Company. The full document can be found on the Company’s website (investor.livechatinc.com).
“At the moment, we do not define any goals concerning a specific level of profits or number of clients. We believe, however, that the pursuit of our mission, i.e. to eliminate the existing barriers and create tools that can enhance the emotional aspect to communication, will lead to the success of our business. We feel responsible for eliminating communication barriers in business, and we want to provide the technology to bridge the gap between businesses and customers. We hope to eventually make online communication as effective as ‘face-to-face’ meetings. This is our responsibility and the purpose of our organisation” – emphasised Mariusz Ciepły.
At the same time, the Company is determined to maintain a business model with high profitability, positive cash flows and the ability to share profits with the Shareholders. The Group is currently working, in particular, on developing a sales department in the USA and finding bigger clients.
In the concluded financial year, LiveChat Software maintained a very high profitability level – the gross margin on sales was 86.7%, the operating margin was 62.6%, and the net margin was 58.2%. This proves that the Group is an efficient cash generator – the cash flows on operating activities amounted to PLN 75.8 mn. As of the end of the financial year, the Company had PLN 38.7 million in cash, and it reaffirmed its dividend policy, in accordance with which the Shareholders were to be paid the largest legally permitted share of the profits.
In the 2019/2020 financial year, the operating profit rose by 15.7% to reach PLN 81.9 million, and the EBITDA increased by 18.6% to a level of PLN 88.4 million. The net result was significantly improved by the “IP Box” tax relief, which contributed PLN 10.6 million. Overall, the consolidated net income amounted to PLN 76.1 million.
LiveChat Software was founded in 2002, but it had not entered the global market until 2010, when it started offering its product only in the SaaS (Software as a Service) model. It earned its first one thousand clients already during the following year. The Company now offers several products, and, at the beginning of 2020, it announced that its ChatBot solution exceeded the number of one thousand paying clients.
The offering of LiveChat Software currently includes the following products:
LiveChat– software used by companies to communicate with their customers at any time and in any place.
ChatBot– versatile platform used to create chatbots for different communication channels.
HelpDesk– intuitive ticket system designed to manage e-mail communication with the clients.
KnowledgeBase– system used to create knowledge bases and easily deliver them to the company’s own team and to the customers. It uses AI solutions to find useful articles.
The Company also provides theLiveChat for Developers platform to enable external partners to create their own expansions and integrations for the Company’s products and monetise them at the Company’s marketplace.
The LiveChat solution is used by all kinds of companies and institutions. The unifying factor is the need to need to communicate with their customers over the Internet – which does not have to mean a website but, for instance, a social media account or another communication channel. In April, LiveChat announced that its clients now had the option of integration with Apple Business Chat, which was prepared in collaboration with Apple Inc.
LiveChat Software
LiveChat Software operates in the “customer service” business, and it is one of the leaders of the global market for live chat solutions. Its LiveChat product supports companies in customer service, online sales support and lead generation. This way, LiveChat partners can stay in touch with their customers anywhere and at any time. Other products of the Company include ChatBot, HelpDesk and KnowledgeBase.
LiveChat Software employs over 170 specialists at its headquarters in Wrocław. For over six years, it has also been a company listed on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
LiveChat is used by over 30 thousand companies from approx. 150 countries, and the ChatBot product has found 1000+ customers in over 30 countries.